Brunei will be the only country that executes LGBTIQ people that has landing rights in Australia. Petition organiser Neil Pharaoh called on the Federal Government to rescind the landing rights of the airline.

“If it was any other group in the community being targeted we would stop doing business with them and start putting pressure on them. Why should it not be the same for LGBTIQ people?”

People flying out of Sydney and Melbourne needed to be aware of the potential risk – and they needed to make an informed choice when it came to selecting their airline, he said.

“They are subject to the laws of Brunei…They don’t get protection from being in international waters.”

Mr Pharaoh urged people to sign the petition and spread the message. “There’s been a lot of positive feedback so far – most people were really shocked.”

Several hundred signatures had been gathered late last night, with comments ranging from outrage to disbelief. Many called for Australia to take a principled stand.

“Allowing them to come here and putting our people into their care implies that we agree with their policies,” one woman wrote.

The shock new laws have also sparked an updated warning from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The danger for Australians is the new law can target them even while they are in transit – meaning travellers could be in danger without even realising it because they are on Brunei aircraft.

“It applies to Muslims, non-Muslim and foreigners even when on Brunei registered aircraft and vessels. Under this code some offences can attract physical punishment while others attract executions. Offences that attract the death penalty include blasphemy, sodomy, adultery, rape and murder,” the advice said.

Rights groups have reacted with horror to the latest hard line move from the resource-rich nation on Borneo, which practises a stricter brand of Islam than its neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Brunei, with prison terms of up to ten years, but it will now become a capital offence. The law only applies to Muslims.

The new penalty for theft is amputation of the right hand for a first offence, and the left foot for a second offence.

Amnesty International Wednesday urged Brunei to “immediately halt” implementation of the new penalties.

“To legalise such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself,” Brunei researcher Rachel Chhoa-Howard said in a statement.

“Some of the potential ‘offences’ should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender.”

A notice on Brunei’s Attorney-General’s Chambers dated December 29 last year said the provisions will take effect on April 3.

Brunei first announced the measures in 2013 but implementation has been delayed as officials worked out the practical details and in the teeth of opposition by rights groups.

However, a spokesman for the Brunei religious affairs ministry Wednesday said only that Sultan Bolkiah was expected to make an announcement on April 3 regarding the implementation of the new sharia laws.

“Only after the event we will know regarding the date of the implementation of the new laws,” he told AFP Wednesday.

“In terms of readiness, at the moment we are prepared to enforce the amputation of the hand for stealing only. That is all.”

However, Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch warned that implementation of the law “will quickly drive the country towards human rights pariah status in the eyes of foreign investors, tourists, and international agencies”.

pacific.epeak.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/1553798380_728_Brunei-to-punish-adultery-gay-sex-with-death-penalty-theft-with-amputation”/>media_cameraExperts say tourists will now stay away from Brunei.

He added: “If this ill-considered plan goes forward, there is every reason to believe the global boycott Brunei movement will restart.”

Mr Robertson said Brunei will become the only country in Southeast Asia to punish gay sex with death if it pushes through with the law.

Under a shift towards hard line Islamic law, Brunei in 2015 banned excessive Christmas celebrations for fear that Muslims could be led astray.

Brunei’s Sultan is no stranger to controversy at home — the monarchy was deeply embarrassed by a family feud with his brother Jefri over the latter’s alleged embezzlement of $15 billion during his tenure as finance minister in the 1990s.

Court battles and investigations revealed salacious details of Jefri’s un-Islamic jetset lifestyle, including claims of a high-priced harem of foreign women and a luxury yacht he owned called “Tits”.